This invention relates to a combination recorder and transcriber that is specifically adapted for use in recording and playing back short messages.
Many types of tape recorders are in common use today around offices and homes which utilize tape cassettes or cartridges of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,228. These cassettes usually involve a pair of spools that coact to transfer a long continuous length of magnetic tape past a magnetic recording and readout head. Usually the tape is adapted to record on two channels, one of which is utilized as the spools turn in a first direction and the other of which is utilized as the spools turn in the opposite direction. Each channel is usually capable of storing about thirty minutes of audio information. Use of this equipment therefore to record short messages is not generally practical or economically feasible. Short messages generally tend to be lost on the comparatively long tapes and oftentimes the short messages are difficult to find and play back. In the event a large number of short messages are generated by different people within a single organization, an equal number of cartridges or cassettes will be needed to store these messages. As can be seen, in a short period of time, a relatively large number of cassettes might be tied up in conveying short messages which of course is a total underutilization of the tapes.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,237,624 to Yeh and 3,488,867 to Lyons et al both describe devices for handling flexible cards upon which a strip of recording tape has been glued or otherwise affixed. The cards are used as teaching aids and typically contain visual material printed thereon depicting subject matter directly relating to the audio message. The flexible cards, however, make extremely poor supports for the recording media. The cards tend to bend as they are transported through the recording or playback zone thereby seriously degrading the audio information. By the same token, it is difficult to move the cards at a uniform speed past the magnetic recording head and, as a consequence, the messages are distorted. Lyons et al, recognizing this problem, utilizes a system whereby the card is held stationary and the head is moved past the tape. The moving head system, however, is difficult to implement and raises the price of the equipment dramatically. Flexible cards of this nature also can become damaged through usage unless they are carefully handled and stored.